home made damper tool

i just did my fork seals in order to remove the damper retaining bolt on the bottom of the forks to keep the damper from spinning i welded a 16 inch long square tube to a 1 1/16 sockett

another pic

I had "broke" loose the 8mm hex head bolt in the bottom of the fork while the fork was still attached to the triple clamps. The whole damper rod still spun in the tube. Found this DIY on google and "made" me a damper rod tool which worked like a charm. Thanks, hopefully this thread will help others in need of the DIY damper rod tool.

There's a youtube video where the Gen 1 "mechanic" uses a screwdriver thru the damping adjuster hole after the adjuster is removed. Never tried it.

I took an old Electrolux vacuum cleaner metal wand piece which happens to be just a smidge less circumference than the nut on the out side of the cartridge body. Holds it just enough to get the grub screw out.

Hey guys, I know this is an old thread but I'm hoping someone still might be around that can help me out. I am trying to disassemble my fork and I am stuck at trying to remove the bottom bolt to release the cartridge. I have an allen socket to turn the bottom bolt but the cartridge just spins inside the tube. I know I need a damper rod holding tool and I know some people suggest using a PVC pipe but I am having a hard time understanding how this would work. What size PVC should I use? I don't see how there is enough room for a PVC pipe to fit over the spring and cartridge assembly and down into the tube far enough to allow me to prevent it from spinning. Can someone please describe how to do this. All the videos I have seen don't seem to show anyone having the problem that I am having. I am not sure what I am not understanding. Please Help!

The top side of the cartridge is the nut i.e. it’s part of the cartridge body. So when you slide the pvc down it just goes around the rod till it rest on the nut. I use an old (1950’s) wand from a hoover vacuum cleaner with some duct tape wrapped around it to prevent scratching the upper tube. It measures 1.25” i.d. Home depot has a lot of different size pvc tubes just bring a tape with you or use theirs.

It really only needs to loosely sit on the top. The key thing is not to scratch the inside of the fork tubes. Where arrow 11 is pointing is the nut. It doesn’t need a socket like fit it just needs to add some compression to the top of the cartridge while turning the allen bolt.

WRFF,

welcome to the group.

Here's a pic of the "tool" I made.

I used an impact tool to loosen and remove the allen screw.

Hope this helps.
Jim

jimco said:

WRFF,

welcome to the group.

Here's a pic of the "tool" I made.

I used an impact tool to loosen and remove the allen screw.

Hope this helps.
JimView attachment 35460

Click to expand...

That works too. I just skipped the socket and only use the wand.

Or reassemble the fork and that creates spring pressure on thecartridge. Loosen the allen bolts then take it apart again. That's how we did my neighbors FJR forks.

Hey Guys, Thank you very much for the replies. I was able to get the forks disassembled. I had to compress the spring enough to get a pair of needle nose around the damper tube to hold it so I could get the top nut off. I didn't realize I had to do this because I didn't see anyone having to do this in any of the videos I watched. Then I used a 1-1/16" socket that I had attached with duct tape to a 1" x 2' PVC, very similar to Jimco's solution, to hold the cartridge while removing the bottom allen bolt. I have everything apart and cleaned. Planning on putting everything back together tomorrow evening. Hopefully be ready to ride Saturday. Anyways, thank you all very much for the help and maybe my description of having to use the needle nose to get the top nut off will help someone.